FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Rangers are making a considerable error in judgment if in fact they do commit to opening next season in Prague.

There are 68 reasons why the NHL and the hockey-mad community in the Czech Republic capital want the Blueshirts to play in Prague; the No. 68 that native son Jaromir Jagr has worn so proudly throughout his career in recognition of the resistance to the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.

But what if Jagr isn’t a Ranger next season? What would the re action to the Rangers be then? What if decisions by Rangers management and the right-winger himself regarding Jagr’s status for 2008-09 are compromised because of the scheduled games in Prague?

This is the final season of the guaranteed portion of Jagr’s contract the Rangers inherited from the Caps upon acquiring No. 68 on Jan. 23, 2004. There is a team option for next year at $8.4M – of which the Rangers would both pay and be cap-charged $4.94 million – that would kick in automatically if Jagr were to attain any of several triggers.

If Jagr records 40 goals or 84 points and the Rangers win a playoff round, next season becomes guaranteed. Similarly, if Jagr were to win the Hart Trophy, or the Art Ross Trophy, or the Conn Smythe Trophy, 2008-09 would become guaranteed.

Going into tonight’s game at Sunrise, Fla., against the Panthers, Jagr has four goals and 13 assists for 17 points in the season’s first 22 games. Averaging .77 points per game, Jagr would have to record 67 points in the final 60 games (1.12 per) in order to hit the point-scoring trigger. The goals-scored, Hart and Art Ross triggers seem out of reach.

Jagr, 36 on Jan. 15, hasn’t been himself this season. The Rangers, 10-2 in their last 12 games and in first place in the Atlantic at 13-8-1, are winning on defense and goaltending; not by riding Jagr’s coat tails.

Jagr didn’t mesh with Chris Drury, he didn’t mesh with Scott Gomez, and now, after a brief spurt playing with freshman center Brandon Dubinsky, that alliance has gone fallow. Jagr has gone four straight games without a point, and has two (1-1) in the last six matches.

As such, the Rangers were the NHL’s lowest-scoring team, averaging a meager 2.23 goals-per, going into last night’s schedule. Honestly, Michael Nylander wasn’t this important.

Martin Straka, out for 15 games since suffering a broken finger in Boston on Oct. 20 in the season’s seventh game, is expected to return tonight. He surely will join Jagr’s unit, though it’s unclear whether Straka will replace Drury on the left with Dubinsky remaining in the middle, or whether Straka would play center while Drury remains on the left and Dubinsky is bumped to the third line.

Jagr needs Straka. He needs a linemate who sees the game the way he does. Great players rely on instinct. That’s been missing from Jagr’s game this year, even as the captain has played the chip-in, safety-first game that is anathema to his upbringing, intuitiveness and talent.

Having Straka, perhaps the team’s best puck retriever, by his side eventually should rejuvenate Jagr. In 10 or 12 games, everyone should know much more about Jagr and the Rangers.

Which again is to say, if it is premature to make any judgment about Jagr concerning this season, it most certainly is premature to make any judgment on next season, which committing to opening 2008-09 with a Czech celebration essentially does, doesn’t it? The Rangers playing in Prague, but without Jagr, would be like going forward with the wedding while the groom is busy with other plans.

Hockey decisions are difficult enough without tangential issues to consider. The Rangers cannot be put in the position of feeling compelled to re-up Jagr for next season. The Rangers should say no to Prague.